The Blues were rattled by a trio of first-half goals at Anfield and a valuable away goal evaded City in the second-half despite a much-improved performance.

In-form marksman Mohamed Salah fired the Reds in front after only 12 minutes of action in the all English clash. He hit it perfectly! “We want a great atmosphere and to make it hostile but certain individuals have overstepped the mark and that’s bang out of order”. “Except 10-15 minutes in the first half when we lost a bit of control. from my point of view, we did really well”, he said.

City did not manage a single attempt on target in a first half Liverpool completely controlled but came into it more as the hosts, who lost Salah to injury, exhausted in the second period.

The Merseysiders host the runaway Premier League leaders in the first leg of the glamour tie at Anfield on Wednesday.

Was it his tactical decision to drop winger Raheem Sterling and play an extra central midfielder in Ilkay Gundogan, a move that completely backfired?

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain doubled Liverpool’s advantage with a blistering drive from distance, while a third arrived just after the half-hour when Sadio Mane headed home Salah’s delivery from the right flank.

In April 2017 a man who is now on trial placed bombs on the road where the German team’s bus was driving along en route to their Champions League clash against Monaco.

As important as Liverpool’s attacking brilliance in the first half was the team’s defensive resilience in the second half.

There have been countless claims that this City team is the best the Premier League has ever seen, but those suggestions are premature. “It was good tonight, but I am not interested in being good”.

“We didn’t expect that after what happened last season in Dortmund I didn’t expect that”, he said.

But it didn’t work and despite the fact City dominated the second period in terms of possession, they created precious few clear-cut goal chances with David Silva’s uncharacteristic poor control in the six-yard box indicative of the pressure they were under. We come here to play football and I don’t understand this kind of situation.

In a warning on Tuesday, Liverpool released a statement that said “the police and courts take these offences very seriously and prosecution can result in a prison sentence”, after City had expressed concerns about their impending reception.